The ruling said Massachusetts courts can determine whether a couple is in a substantive dating relationship by considering the nature, frequency and length of their communications and if either person has ended the relationship.

“Clearly the court took the case … on its own initiative because, I think, they wanted to address this issue of electronic dating and whether, under the statute, electronic communication could form the basis of a substantive dating relationship — which is one of the basis under the statute which gives the court the authority to issue an abuse order,” said lawyer Mark Engel, who represented Compton in the lower court.

Robert Peck, an attorney for the girl’s father, said in a telephone interview from Salem that the decision recognizes that more people are using various forms of social media to communicate and establish relationships in real time.

What the Supreme Judicial Court “has done is to bring the reality of today into clear focus” for applications under domestic abuse laws to relationships formed by previously nontraditional means such as the Internet, Skype, Facebook, and instant messaging, Peck said.

The girl’s parents discovered the communication and her father secured the restraining order, which was served to Compton after he arrived at an inn near the family home in November.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the man’s conduct did not rise to the level of abuse because he did not harm or try to harm her physically, and did not cause the girl to engage in a sexual relationship by force, threat or duress. Those standards are set under a state’s domestic abuse law that enables adults, children and others living in a home to secure a restraining order directing someone to refrain from abuse or contact.

The court also found that the teen was capable of agreeing to sex because she is older than the state consent age of 16.

“The defendant’s passing references in his electronic communications with the daughter implying that he might furnish her with alcohol, while understandably reprehensible to the father, is not evidence suggesting physical abuse or evidence that the defendant planned to give alcohol to her in order to have involuntary sexual relations with her, certainly a form of physical abuse,” the court said. “We conclude that this conduct does not meet the definition of ‘abuse'” under the state domestic abuse law.

CRAVE ONLINE: Has anyone approached you with success stories thanks to your book?
Eric Rogell: All the time. A lot of guys tell me it’s gotten them over their fear of approaching women and they’ve finally gotten themselves a social life. One of my buddies read it after breaking up with a longtime girlfriend, who he thought was The One, and figured he’d never meet another. He ended up dating a half dozen women within two weeks. My nephew also begged me for a copy after failing to hook up at college, and texted me that he ended up with a rotating group of 15 girls. (My sister still isn’t talking to me.)
Women tell me success stories all the time, too. They picked up the book expecting to hate it as a how-to-get-over-on-women guide, but ended up learning how they’ve been repelling men out of knee jerk reaction to things they say. They’ve ended up playing the game themselves, and have met better guys because of it.

CRAVE ONLINE: When do you think a male evolves from horny pick up artist to genuine adult pursuer of women?

Eric Rogell: Most pick up artists would argue that they are genuine adult pursuers of women – and that the AFCs (the Average Frustrated Chumps), and especially the douche bags, are the ones who are giving seduction a bad name and need to evolve.

I personally think it happens when guys realize that you can get a lot more out of being an “attractive” guy and stop doing stupid shit like calling a chick a lesbian or getting belligerent and angry if she shoots you down. The evolved man doesn’t take it personally and realizes there are thousands of women out there, and you’re not going to succeed with every single one of them.

Now, dating website for couples to spice up their love life.

A New York-based dating website is reaching out to rev up the love lives of city slickers who are already matched up, by providing pre-planned dates.HowAboutWe caters to couples who are too busy — or too lazy — to plan their own dates.

“We’re a modern love company,” co-founder Brian Schechter told the New York Daily News.HowAboutWe for Couples is a spinoff of the company’s popular HowAboutWe dating site for singles, where date-seekers pitch a date idea and see if anyone bites.

Schechter got the idea for the couples’ site after noticing singles were deactivating their accounts once they met someone.
But he said that they kept coming back because they were looking for inspiration for their own dates.

They realized that people who are in relationships are still looking for wonderful date ideas.
On HowAboutWe for Couples, the dates are already planned.Favorites include “Peanuts About You,” a date to a peanut butter specialty shop in the West Village, and “Scratch That,” a DJ lesson for two.

For 18 dollars a month, couples can choose from a selection of pre-planned dates.Some are free, but more extravagant dates — like a two-night getaway in the Finger Lakes region — cost extra.
Since it launched in November, more than 2,000 couples have signed up for the service, which is only available in New York, with plans to launchsoon in San Francisco.